Harker Heights is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, 33,097 people resided in the city, up from a population of 17,308 in 2000. This makes Harker Heights the third-largest city in Bell County, after Killeen and Temple. Incorporated in 1960, the city derives its name from one of the two original landowners and founder, Harley Kern. Harker Heights is allocation of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan area. People usually dispatch to the town as just “Heights”.

Harker Heights is located near Fort Hood, a major United States Army make known that was designated a enduring military skill in 1950. As the post expanded, the surrounding civilian population increased. Water Control and Improvement District No. 4 was established on land near the Killeen city limits and the military publish in 1955, and included the estate owned by Pinckney R. Cox and Harley Kern, two hog farmers. These two men subdivided their house in 1957 and began selling lots. By 1960, between 600 and 700 of the lots had been developed and other residents supplied past water and supplementary utility services. Following a petition for an raptness election, the city was established on September 24, 1960, and Cox was elected mayor. Kern had died before the incorporation, and the Harker in Harker Heights was a concatenation of Harley Kern’s reveal as a great compliment to one of the native landowners. The town’s boundaries expanded to intensify Forest Hills, Highland Oaks, and Comanche Hills. Cox, Sam Garth Jr., and Barney Sissom created GIASISCO Corporation, which was expected to assist expand the town from 400 to 950 acres (160 to 380 ha).

Harker Heights is bordered by the city of Killeen to the west and Nolanville to the east. The city limits extend south to hills overlooking Stillhouse Hollow Lake on the Lampasas River.

Interstate 14/U.S. Highway 190 is a four-lane freeway that passes through the city, connecting Killeen to the west afterward Interstate 35 in Belton 12 miles (19 km) to the east, at a dwindling about halfway amid Waco and Austin.